Microsoft
is
starting
to
enable
ads
inside
the
Start
menu
on
Windows
11
for
all
users.
After
testing
these
briefly
with
Windows
Insiders
earlier
this
month,
Microsoft
has
started
to
distribute
update
KB5036980
to
Windows
11
users
this
week,
which
includes
“recommendations”
for
apps
from
the
Microsoft
Store
in
the
Start
menu.
“The
Recommended
section
of
the
Start
menu
will
show
some
Microsoft
Store
apps,”
says
Microsoft
in
the
update
notes
of
its
latest
public
Windows
11
release.
“These
apps
come
from
a
small
set
of
curated
developers.”
The
ads
are
designed
to
help
Windows
11
users
discover
more
apps,
but
will
largely
benefit
the
developers
that
Microsoft
is
trying
to
tempt
into
building
more
Windows
apps.
Microsoft
only
started
testing
these
ads
two
weeks
ago,
so
it’s
surprising
to
see
this
“feature”
progress
from
the
Beta
Channel
to
release
in
such
a
short
period
of
time.
At
the
time
of
initial
testing
I
mentioned
Microsoft
“could
decide
to
ditch
these
ads”
if
there
was
enough
feedback
that
suggested
they
weren’t
popular,
but
two
weeks
of
feedback
certainly
isn’t
long
enough
to
determine
that.
Luckily
you
can
disable
these
ads,
or
“recommendations”
as
Microsoft
calls
them.
If
you’ve
installed
the
latest
KB5036980
update
then
head
into
Settings
>
Personalization
>
Start
and
turn
off
the
toggle
for
“Show
recommendations
for
tips,
app
promotions,
and
more.”
While
KB5036980
is
optional
right
now,
Microsoft
will
push
this
to
all
Windows
11
machines
in
the
coming
weeks.
Microsoft’s
move
to
enable
ads
in
the
Windows
11
Start
menu
follows
similar
promotional
spots
in
the
Windows
10
lock
screen and
Start
menu.
Microsoft
also
started
testing
ads
inside
the
File
Explorer
of
Windows
11 last
year
before
disabling
the
experiment
and
saying
the
test
was
“not
intended
to
be
published
externally.”
Hopefully
that
experiment
remains
very
much
an
experiment.
(Originally posted by Tom Warren)
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